The Ultimate Challenge
Part One


It's the year 2002. Eight years had passed since the Under 16 World Cup. Each of the "once had been" teammates went in his own path. One thing they all had in common though, Soccer (Well, most of them!).

In the East Side of the Hague Avenue, the Netherlands, where the rich resided peacefully, lies a big white mansion with a navy-blue ceramic roof and a flourishing garden at the front. A black Porsche Carerra II 911 Twin Turbo car appeared from the far distance. It was driven like a mad rocket and it barely parked right beside the sidewalk of the mansion. A sturdy, tall figure wearing pitch-black shades and a dark-grey Moschino suit with a flaring red velvet tie, stepped out of the car. Slamming the car door with all his God-Given Might, the man kept walking straight to the mansion's door, bearing an angry expression upon his face. He inserted the door key gently in the key hole and turned it with a very delicate motion, as if he was breaking in the way the Pros do it. He got inside  and closed the door behind him, and went towards the kitchen without even thinking twice. A beautiful woman, in her early twenties was standing where the state-of-the-art electrical oven was, cooking supper.

Tsubasa:"Honey, I'm home (at last!!)"

Sanae:"Ah! Hi dear! You came back! Why are you home so early?? What happened?"

He ran towards her and gave her a quick smooch on the lips and recoiled backwards two feet from where she was standing.

Tsubasa:"Something...Really bad, happened between  the coach and me, to be specific..."

Sanae:"Mr.Johan? Why? What got wrong between you two?"

He slammed his palm against the kitchen table so hard, he made a thundering sound.
Then he lowered his head, closing his eyes in disgust.

Tsubasa<angrily>: "Damn those contracts! They are the source of Hell itself!"

Sanae:"Tsubasa, you're not helping me here, not one bit!"

Tsubasa:"<relieved sigh>, All right. I was practicing head-butts with Derekson and the others, just to see Johan running towards us like a pregnant yag with another player following his trail. He ordered us to stop for a moment, and introduced us to the new member of the team, BRIAN KRIFORD!!"

Sanae: "Ouch! That surely banged your sensitive nerve!"

Tsubasa: "OH! You bet it did! So I was like, 'So, what are you doing here, Brian? I thought you were with Juventus in Italy!' So then Johan intrudes quite politely in between the conversation and says,'Look here team! This is your new  Head Attacker for this season!!!' So I was like 'WHAT THA..?! What about me coach?! What the hell about me??'.

Johan: 'What the HELL about you, Ozora?!' he said, with a sharp tone, trying to hint upon something obvious.

Me: 'I mean, we had a deal, didn't we? I signed the God damn contract for Pete's sake! I have witnesses!! This is a violation man, and you know it!'.

Johan: 'Calm down, kid. You know that we desperately needed that. Besides, Kriford here is DUTCH, and he proved to be more PATRIOTIC than some people I unfortunately know...'

Me: 'Hey! I'm Japanese! What do you expect me to do? Kiss your flag pole everyday in the morning?! What the hell is worng with you man?! This is Racism, let alone Favoritism!!'

Johan:'That's not the point, Ozora! The point is that you're slacking off these days, and you know how much I hate slackers!'

Me:'I slack?! You serious?! What about Van Hiemer? What about Schmitt?'

Johan:'They slack with a PERMISSION! You don't! You take the whole day off as if it was a damn national holiday or something! You know I don't tolerate such behavior from my players!'

Me:'Is that it? Is this what it is all about? For not showing up for one day just because I was with my wife at the hospital??'

Johan:'You never asked my permission...'

Me:'It was a God Damn emergency man!! What the hell did you expect from me anyway!?'

Johan:'Listen! I've had enough already. Kriford is the main FW man, you'll shift to the central MF postion, is that understood, Mr.Ozora??'

Me:'NO! You listen old man! I'm not shifting anywhere, you understand?! This is my rightful postion and I literally OWN it...You don't like it, then TOO BAD, I guess!!'

Johan:'LOOK HERE YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF CRAP! You signed a contract with me, I give you $5,000,000 a year with your mouth shut! So you better do what I'm asking you to do, RIGHT NOW!! And while you're at it, wrap up that tongue of yours so it wouldn't go wandering off in the play field cussing at the Club Managers!'

Tsubasa:"So I left in utter disgust, tortured by my teammates' loud laughs...Brian seemed the most happiest, I guess...He was waitng to avenge his loss against me at the Under 19 World Cup for so long!"

There was a pause for a few seconds, then Tsubasa noticed a single tear drop running down Sanae's cheek.

Tsubasa:" Whah...What's wrong? Why are you crying?? I really don't need this right now!!"

Sanae:"<sniff>...It's just that...You suffered all of this because of me! It was my fault! I got this to happen!! My God! I made you look miserable in front of the others! I don't deserve you Tsubasa! I made a fool out of you in Johan's eyes! Please forgive me, I beg you, please..."

Tsubasa roars silently within his mind, and then shoots out in Sanae's direction, giving her a powerful embrace full of warmth and passion, pressing her tightly against his body, giving her a deep look in the eyes.

Tsubasa:"Listen to me girl! If it's about who should apologize to the other, then it must be me! YES! It's me Sanae! I literaly had you within my arms all of these years back in school, and I really felt stupid when I realized how careless I've been with you. Even so, you kept loving me, been loyal to me, even though I wasn't aware of your efforts! And that incident with Kanda, back six years ago, I was speechless to that fact when Ishizaki confronted me with it, after winning the Finals. I love you baby, from the bottom of my heart! I'd give up all of my dreams just for you, rest assured of that my angel...I'd die for you Sanae!!"

The roaring sound of thunder filled the whole neighbourhood in a flash moment.

Then she ripped her eyes from his gaze, and rested her head on his chest, and started to cry even harder, as if she didn't believe what had just happened. They were never that frank between themselves before.

Sanae<eyes filled, faint smile>:"Tsubasa...I love you so much..."

Tsubasa<smiling>:"Hey, hey! Enough already! You're going to ruin my new suit<wink>!"

Sanae:"Yeah...<sniff>...We don't want that now, do we<smile>?"

Tsubasa:"Yups! By the way, is it just me, or is there a smell of something burning in here??"

Sanae:"OH NOOOOO!!! THE MEAT STEW!!! Oh, God! I've spent so much time in preparing it!"

Tsubasa:"Great! I've lost my job AND a great supper, what could a man possibly want more than this on a bad day??"

THE END

  Part Two